Reports to Spring Conference 2010 Birmingham Contents Page FEDERAL CONFERENCE COMMITTEE 2 FEDERAL POLICY COMMITTEE 6 FEDERAL EXECUTIVE 10 FEDERAL FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE 13 PARLIAMENTARY PARTY (COMMONS) 19 PARLIAMENTARY PARTY (LORDS) 22 PARLIAMENTARY PARTY (EUROPE) 26 CAMPAIGN FOR GENDER BALANCE 27 DIVERSITY ENGAGEMENT GROUP 29 APPROVAL & SELECTION DIVERSITY UPDATE 31 1 Federal Conference Committee The Federal Conference Committee is responsible for organising the two Federal conferences each year. This includes choosing the agenda from amongst the policy and business motions submitted by conference reps, local, regional and state parties, specified associated organisations and Federal committees, and also taking decisions on topics such as venues, registration rates and other administrative and organisational matters. It works within a budget set by the FFAC. The FCC has 21 voting members: the Party President; the Chief Whip (or substitute); three state party reps; two reps from the FE and two from the FPC; and twelve members directly elected by conference reps. It elects its own chair (currently Duncan Brack), who must be one of the directly elected reps. Feedback from conference reps Federal Conference Committee always takes conference-goers’ feedback seriously, devoting our first post-conference meeting to a debrief session. Last autumn we trialled replacing the old paper questionnaire with an online version. This was very successful, with almost 500 respondents. We will use this greener online tool at all conferences from now on, so please take the time to give us your feedback. All registered members will be emailed a link to the questionnaire in the week following conference. A summary of the feedback from the Bournemouth conference is available on the party website ( www.libdems.org.uk/conference_report_2009.aspx ), together with some of the changes we will be making in response. Unlike Bournemouth, however, the Birmingham conference will follow the normal spring conference pattern, with no innovations, except for … Ask FCC for help! … an FCC helpdesk, where FCC members will be available to answer any questions you might have about conference procedures such as advice on filling in speaker’s cards, submitting motions to future conferences, and so on. The helpdesk will be open from 08.30 to 12.30 on the Saturday morning of conference, and can be found next to the Information Desk. I hope you make use of it. Agenda We received a fairly high number of motions submitted by local parties and conference reps, and their average quality continues to improve, a trend which we have seen for over a year now. More people are using our drafting advisory service, and we do encourage everyone to make use of this in the future. As usual for a conference immediately preceding a general election, we will of course be using the bulk of the time we have available for motions from the FPC, organised around the main themes in the manifesto, but we have still been able to include a few motions from other sources. Many of the motions we were not able to take would make good topics for debate at the autumn conference, when we will have much less business submitted by the FPC, and we hope that the proposers will resubmit them. As well as the motions and set-piece speeches, we are including a Q&A session with the party leader, for the first time at a spring conference. As you can see in the Agenda, we will be using a slightly different format this time. The initial questions still need to be submitted on 2 question cards, and they will be asked from the intervention mikes, but then if anyone sitting in the audience wants to ask a supplementary question, they should simply put their hand up, and Nick will call as many of them as we have time for – a hand-held mike will be passed to them. Anyone thinking they might want to ask a supplementary question should sit in the lower tier in the auditorium. Conference rally The conference rally, ‘Building a Fairer Britain’, will take place on Friday 12 March, between 18.30 and 19.30, in the main auditorium. It will feature Nick Clegg, Paddy Ashdown, Shirley Williams, Tim Farron and several of the party’s target seat candidates, and it will be compered by Lorely Burt. I hope to see you all there! Future venues We are pleased to be visiting two new venues this year – Birmingham in the spring, and Liverpool in the autumn (a new venue for an autumn conference for us). We always consider a wide range of conference centres for hosting future Liberal Democrat conferences. The current size of the conference and the scale of public interest it draws make it an attractive event for many towns and cities to host, but also restricts the number of venues with adequate facilities. The venues for the spring and autumn 2011 conferences are now almost finalised, and I will be able to announce them during my report at the Birmingham conference; full details will be published on the party website shortly afterwards. Access The Conference Access Group, convened by Robert Adamson, continues to make conference as accessible for all as possible, expanding its work to tackle obstacles facing those with a broader range of disabilities. If you are interested in the work of the Group, please feel free to contact Robert on [email protected]. Stewards and security As always, conference can only take place due to the massive contribution and efforts of the volunteer stewards’ team, who handle security, look after the exhibition, fringe, information desk, stage and auditorium, and ensure that we all get the most out of conference. We are grateful, as always, to our Chief Steward, Adrian Beavis, and his deputy, Mike Ross, and all their colleagues in the stewards’ team. Due to the high profile of the Liberal Democrat conference, some security checks are necessary – though we aim to keep these to a minimum – and our stewards will be supported by SIA-qualified security contractors in this task. Please see the relevant section in the Directory for the procedures. Federal Conference Committee FCC members are here to help you make the most of conference – do feel free to ask us any questions you may have relating to the agenda and how to speak in debates. You can identify us by the larger badges we wear, with ‘FCC’ prominently displayed; there are also pictures of us (to varying degrees of flattery) on page 2 of the Agenda – and, as above, you will be able to find us at the FCC helpdesk on the Saturday morning of conference. FCC members are also assigned to the state and English regional parties, and SAOs, to liaise with them during the year, provide advice and assistance on submitting motions or 3 otherwise getting involved in conference, and appear at particular conferences to answer your questions. See the contact details at the end of this report, and don’t hesitate to get in touch with the relevant FCC member. Thanks The vast bulk of the hard work of organising conference throughout the year of course falls on the full-time staff in Conference Office in Cowley Street: Lucy Billingsley, Carol Caruana, Sian Jenkins and Emma Price. This year the team has also been supported by Sonia Goodland whose help has been invaluable. Those of us on FCC who have been around for a while are of the view that our current Conference Office is the most competent and professional team the party has ever had. I would also like to express my warmest thanks to all the others who make conference possible: to all my colleagues on the Conference Committee; to Ben Stoneham, HQ Director in Cowley Street; to the Policy Projects Team, led by Christian Moon, who process the motions and prepare much of the agenda material; and of course to the stewards’ team. I look forward to seeing you in Birmingham. Duncan Brack Chair, Federal Conference Committee State/Region FCC liaison England Geoff Payne; [email protected] Scotland Jenni Lang; [email protected] Wales Ian Walton; [email protected] Devon & Cornwall Tessa Munt; [email protected] Justine McGuinness; [email protected] East of England Susan Gaszczak; [email protected] East Midlands Arnie Gibbons; [email protected] London Dee Doocey; [email protected] North East Robert Adamson; [email protected] Qassim Afzal; [email protected] North West South Central Andrew Wiseman; [email protected] South East Ruth Polling; [email protected] 4 Western Counties Tessa Munt; [email protected] Justine McGuinness; [email protected] West Midlands James Gurling; [email protected] Yorkshire & the Humber Duncan Brack; [email protected] SAO FCC liaison Agents and Organisers James Gurling; [email protected] ALDC Arnie Gibbons; [email protected] ALDES Jeremy Hargreaves; [email protected] DELGA Susan Gaszczak; [email protected] EMLD Qassim Afzal; [email protected] Liberal Youth Jon Ball; [email protected] Lib Dem Lawyers Geoff Payne; [email protected] PCA Justine McGuinness; [email protected] WLD Dee Doocey; [email protected] 5 Federal Policy Committee The Federal Policy Committee is responsible for researching and developing policy and overseeing the Federal Party’s policy-making process. This includes producing policy papers for debate at conference, and drawing up (in consultation with the relevant parliamentary party) the Federal election manifestos for Westminster and European elections. The FPC has 29 voting members: the Party Leader, four other MPs, the Party President, one peer, one MEP, three councillors, three state party reps and fifteen members directly elected by conference reps. It must be chaired by one of the five MP members and is currently chaired by the Leader.